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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23654971">The Fire Princes Self-serving system</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Young_Leaf/pseuds/Mriti'>Mriti (Young_Leaf)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ATLA AU’s [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ALL THE POLITICS and occasional love affairs, Aang ‘defeats’ the Fire Lord during the invasion, Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, And is plotting to overthrow his family, Azula has another skill besides fire bending and strategy, Because? Read the tags, But he doesn’t have a hand, Gen, He also has a fan, I die like a loser, I owe all thanks to JGY and NHS, Impromptu writing ideas, Multi, No Beta, Other, Trans Male Character, Ursa is more involved, You don’t even need a summary read the tags, Zuko doesn’t join the Gaang, Zuko is involved in court politics because he is the prince, Zuko isn’t banished or scarred, because their characters made me write this instead of letting it rot away in my files, brief mention of pregnancy, i will die on this hill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:01:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23654971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Young_Leaf/pseuds/Mriti</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko is many things throughout his life: A Prince, a heir, a Father, but never a sacrificial lamb</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Alternatively titled: Ursa is anti-war and instills the same values in her son, who aims to finish his Mothers dream and become the Fire Lord</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ATLA AU’s [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689244</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>137</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As much as I love ATLA, I have some complaints.</p><p> </p><p>One, for example, is</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>HOW IS ZUKO NOT EATEN ALIVE BY HIS COURT AND FAMILY? ANCIENT ASIAN COURT POLITICS GO EXTREME OR THERE IS NO COURT THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN! </p><p> <br/>Of course there are others, but this is a big glaring hole for me.</p><p>I still love Zuko though.</p><p>Moving on now.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ursa held her newborn child tightly in her arms. She had managed to convince her husband to keep the child instead of sending them away to be raised by distant family. The child lacked the spark a Firebender was born with, and it would lead to their further fall out of favour with the Fire Lord. Ozai might have been third-in-line for the throne, but this still would impact his influence in Court.</p><p>If they were lucky, either Iroh or Lu Ten would take a shine to the child and improve their standing in the eye of the Fire Lord, but that was something only time would tell. She needed it, her husband needed it. Better standing meant that she could carry out her tasks with much more ease, and it would increase her influence. The more she had, the better.</p><p>Ursa looked down at the bundle in her arms, wrapped in red blankets, sleeping peacefully.</p><p>They would only be able to sleep like this for a few years, before the pressure came onto them.</p><p>”You will learn my love,” she said, stroking their cheek. “And I will be your teacher.”</p>
<hr/><p>It was no secret that the Fire Nation was starving. More than eight decades of war would do that to a country. However, it seemed like the Fire Lord didn’t get the memo, despite all of the constant riots and rebellions.</p><p>Meanwhile, in the palace, another child was born, with the spark in her eyes.</p><p>This time, Ozai and Ursa breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
<hr/><p> When Zuko was a child, his Mother would take him and his sister, out of the palace, in disguise of course, to the city.</p><p>”Everyone is starving, and soon we will join them.” She’d say as she snapped her favourite fan shut. Words that would replay in his head for his entire lifetime.</p><p>As soon as Azula produced her first flame, Ozai personally oversaw her training, taking her away from him and Mother.</p><p>Zuko recalled his Mother muttering about how Father took something from her.</p>
<hr/><p>Ursa growled to herself.</p><p>If Ozai wanted to stoop so low, as to use her Daughter for his attempts to curry the Fire Lords favour, then so be it.</p><p>Two could play that game.</p>
<hr/><p>The next day, she announced that she’d be taking charge of Zuko’s education.</p><p>He would still attend his Firebending lessons, but everything else would be handled by her. Ozai didn’t bat a lash at this, not caring at all.</p><p>Thus, Zuko, along with other basic subjects, was taught calligraphy, painting, poetry, music, swordplay, acting and fashion.</p><p>She encourages his interest in studying animals and teaches him how to paint on silk and fans.</p><p>But the most important lesson that his Mother taught him was politics.</p><p>She taught him how to see the underlying dirt of the Courts grand facade, how to find those you can trust, and most importantly, how to play the game.</p><p>A year later, she presented him with a fan of his own. It has a red lotus painted on it and it looks just like hers.</p><p>During his lessons, she keeps telling him “The Fire Nation is about die” and “The war is killing us.”</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko soon understands one night when a group of assassins, hired by the rebels, try to kill him and his family.</p>
<hr/><p>A few days later, Lu Ten dies, then the Fire Lord dies, Mother disappears and Father is now the Firelord.</p><p>She leaves him with a red lotus flower on his bedside, and a fan just like the one she gifted him on Azula’s.</p>
<hr/><p>Azula hides the fan from Fathers sight. It is the only thing she has from her Mother, after all.</p><p>A few weeks later, she produces blue fire.</p>
<hr/><p>A rumour is spread in Court that an illegal organisation, called the Red Lotus, is conspiring to overthrow the Fire Lord.</p><p>Tutors take over Zuko’s lessons from where his Mother left off.</p><p>Suddenly, the red lotus has meaning.</p>
<hr/><p>When the General proposes a plan to sacrifice an entire battalion of new soldiers, Zuko intervenes.</p><p>”With all due respect General Bujing, might I make a suggestion?” He asks.</p><p>The General gives him a look, as if he is about to say something, however the Fire Lord raises his hand, and gives Zuko permission to speak.</p><p>”I propose that we dress up our Earth Kingdom prisoners in armour and send them to the frontline. That way, we won’t loose any of our men and the enemies morale will go down. It also serves as a proper distraction for our forces.”</p>
<hr/><p>The Fire Nation inflicts a series of crushing defeats on the Earth Kingdom forces.</p><p>The 41st battalion isn’t sacrificed.</p><p>Zuko almost feels bad, but then the path towards his goals become clearer, so he doesn’t.</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko looses his left hand at age fourteen, trying to curry his Fathers favour by defending him from an assassin that he hired himself.</p><p>It is a freak accident, but still, it is a rather unwelcome consequence.</p><p>Zuko gets a skeletal hand made of metal, which is what he’ll use to carry his fan until his final breath, and a position as his Fathers trusted council.</p><p>He stretches his new hand, trying to get used to the creaks, and sighs.</p><p>At least he can still write with his right hand. If he couldn’t, then it would be quite a problem.</p>
<hr/><p>Azula looks at her brother with disdain and admiration. Father is way too self absorbed to see it, but she does.</p><p>Zuko was playing, moving his pieces, and so far, he was winning.</p><p>Medicine suddenly seemed very interesting to the Princess.</p>
<hr/><p>A year later, Azula saves the Fire Lord from death by poisoning, despite being the one to administer it into his food in the first place.</p><p>The cook is executed immediately.</p><p>Zuko snaps his fan shut with extra force whenever she passes by, and Azula finds it very satisfying.</p>
<hr/><p>Every member of the royal family has a favourite amongst the Imperial Harem and Zuko is no exception, his being a young man who can do wonders with his tongue, and make the Prince cry from pleasure.</p><p>It isn’t a nice break though. He still has to make sure that Azula or any of his other opponents haven’t given the man any ideas.</p><p>Azula, likewise, does the very same.</p>
<hr/><p>At one glance, it is easy to tell the siblings apart.</p><p>Azula dresses in her armour, like she is about to be sent for war any second or in robes that a prince should wear, while Zuko dresses in elaborate clothes or something so simple he could be mistaken for a commoner, fan usually covering his lower face.</p><p>There are more similarities than differences though. Both being charming enough to garner plenty of support, and have a mind to run the Empire.</p><p>But the most startling one is their paranoia.</p><p>Both siblings wear chainmail armour under their clothes, even when they sleep. The Prince always wears beautifully designed guards for his hand and carries his swords with him, while the Princess is never without her vials of poison and darts.</p>
<hr/><p>When Zuko is sixteen, the arrangements to find him a proper consort are postponed in favour of the news breaking out, that the Avatar, an Air Nomad, has been found.</p><p>They send General Iroh, the former Crown Prince, to capture him.</p><p>Maybe in another world, Zuko would’ve been closer to him and seen him as a Father, but this isn’t this world, and he feels relieved to have him out of the way for now.</p><p>He writes to an old ally of his and his Mother, informing them of the development. They will be very pleased.</p><p>He disguises himself and sneaks out to a crowded marketplace, stands in a corner and snaps his fan open. No one pays him attention, it is a trend amongst those who can afford it, to buy a fan similar to the one the Crown Prince has.</p><p>But they never notice the emerald thread attached to it.</p><p>An old woman arrives and hands him a handful of sesame seeds. “Demons out?” She asks. “Luck in.” He answers, nodding. Zuko takes the seeds and gives her the letter, watching as she disappears into the crowd.</p><p>He gets rid of the sesame seeds before he sneaks back into the palace.</p>
<hr/><p>When Zhao captures the Avatar and locks him up in the Pouhai Stronghold, Zuko leaves for an impromptu visit to the nearby colonies. “For an inspection.” He tells the Fire Lord.</p><p>The same night, the Blue Spirit breaks the Avatar out.</p><p>In another universe, he would be hit with an arrow.</p><p>Here, he is more careful.</p><p>As soon as he drops the Avatar far from the prison, he leaves, and turns into Crown Prince Zuko, who is supposed to be asleep, once he reaches his quarters.</p><p>Hopefully, he won’t have to see the boy for a while.</p>
<hr/><p>He sends a bag of gold to a fortune teller in Makapu village, giving her instructions in a note to tell the fortune of three children passing through on a sky bison.</p><p>Meanwhile, Sokka wonders why Madame Wu didn’t charge them for her services.</p>
<hr/><p>When Uncle Iroh turns traitor during the Siege of the North, Zuko is pleased, while Ozai fumes, not surprised but slightly disappointed.</p><p>For him it is one less person to worry about.</p><p>(Also Zhao is dead, and if there is one thing Azula and Zuko can agree on, it is that Zhao should’ve died a long time ago)</p>
<hr/><p>While Azula is sent to chase after the Avatar and their Uncle, Zuko foils multiple attempts on his Fathers life, (Most are planned out by him, of course), frames a few men for treason, gets a few of his allies into powerful offices and looks for his Mother in secret. Had this been another era, he’d have said that he’d been living his ‘best life’, so far.</p><p>Then Azula comes in, ruining everything as she conquers Ba Sing Se, captures Uncle and the Kyoshi Warriors, finds out about the plan to invade the Fire Nation during the Day of Black Sun and kills the Avatar.</p><p>Zuko fumes, and gives her a stiff greeting once she returns, and immediately leaves to seek audience with the Fire Lord.</p><p>Even though his back is turned to her, he can feel her satisfaction radiating from her.</p>
<hr/><p>”Fire Lord,” he says on his knees, as soon as Father permits him to speak. “Allow me to plan the defence against the invasion.” He requests. “They have fought Azula, and may now be able to find her weaknesses. However, they have never faced me. Allow me to plan our defences. They will not know what to do.”</p><p>The Fire Lord grants him permission and Zuko resists the urge to grin until his cheeks split in half, and he looks like the spirit that haunts lonely roads.</p>
<hr/><p>The Dai Li are executed, on Zuko and Azula’s suggestion, and the only shocking thing about it, being that they agreed upon something. They were willing to betray their first master, the Earth Emperor and the Grand Secretariat. Who says that they won’t be next?</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko summons another member of the Imperial Harem that night, a young woman with a red lotus in her hair and red lotus earrings. He enjoys her company that night and in the morning, she leaves with a note hidden on her and the Prince learns more about the Avatars companions.</p><p>He has a wooden hand made for himself the next day.</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko always sits to the right of his Father during War Meetings, while Azula sits to the left, appropriate for the children of the Fire Lord. Zuko presents his defence plans to the Council, which is approved, and Azula makes suggestions on how to oppress the rebellions in the Earth Kingdom.</p><p>As everyone plans to burn the Earth Kingdom to crisp using Sozin’s Comet, the gears in Zuko’s mind begin to whir.</p>
<hr/><p>One fine day, the Avatar disappeared, just a few days before the Day of Black Sun, much to the Crown Princes disappointment. The news coming from a little turtleduck of his, whom he very much adores. It seems like he might have to get his hands dirty after all.</p><p>Zuko sends her away with some money, and a wooden comb.</p>
<hr/><p>The Avatar leads the invasion, and thankfully, finds the Underground Bunkers, alongside the Water Tribe boy and the Earth Kingdom girl.</p><p>And of course they bump into Zuko, who is inwardly pleased that he won’t have to put his backup scheme in motion. It involved propaganda, rumours and many more deaths, including Azula’s, which he was reluctant to carry out. She looked so much like Mother, that it would be shame, he thinks as he snaps his fan shut, glad that he dressed light.</p><p>But still, he wants to meet the person who will murder his.....paternal unit.</p><p>Also, it would be preferable if they didn’t pin him against the wall. Thankfully, no one is here, otherwise they’d have problems. It had already taken him quite sometime to convince his retinue that he did not need any protection, and that he would be safe roaming the tunnels, and if he did die, he would do so in service of the Fire Lord. Not that anyone bought the last part, though. No one wanted to die for the man, they all wanted to go home, and if Zuko wasn’t aiming to slaughter the rest of his family for the throne, he’d probably sympathise with them.</p><p>They didn’t even have to ask him for directions to the Fire Lords quarters.</p><p>”Go straight, take a right, then take a left and continue till you reach a dead end. There will be a single torch. Pull on it. Ignore any door that you see.”</p><p>The Water Tribe boy eyes him suspiciously and the Earth Kingdom girl lets him go.</p><p>”He is not lying.” She confirms.</p><p>”Why are you helping us?” He asks.</p><p>Zuko snaps his fan open, revealing the red lotus.</p><p>”Demons out, luck in.” He answers cryptically, before walking back to his own quarters.</p>
<hr/><p>In the end, it isn’t the Avatar who kills the Fire Lord, but the Earth Kingdom girl and the Water Tribe boy. The boy turned out to be unable to complete the task, so they finished it themselves.</p><p>Zuko ascends as Fire Lord and withdraws Fire Nation troops from the Earth Kingdom.</p><p>Then, he declares his sister mentally unstable and ships her off to a facility on a remote island.</p><p>He officially pardons his Uncle, stating that Admiral Zhao committed treason by killing the Moon Spirit, sister of Agni, in an attempt to harm the Fire Nation for his twisted desires.</p><p>Uncle returns to his tea shop in Ba Sing Se, and Zuko executes all of the Ozai and Azula  supporters after weeding them out and replacing them with his own.</p><p>Mai and Ty Lee are banished alongside the formers younger brother, and the latters sisters, forbidden from setting foot into the Fire Nation ever again. He executes their parents, who he gives the mercy of a private execution.</p><p>He exchanges the remaining Earth Kingdom war prisoners for Fire Nation soldiers, and releases other prisoners of war and politics.</p><p>The Southern Raiders are disbanded.</p><p>He resolved the issue of the colonies by suggesting that the colonies themselves decide if they want to remain with the Fire Nation, return to rule under the Earth Emperor or become independent. Seeing this as a bloodless solution, the Avatar advocated for it, and naturally, everyone seemed to follow.</p><p>Yu Dao chose to remain under the Fire Nation.</p><p>The Cranefish cities chose independence from both.</p><p>The remaining colonies, naturally, were returned to the Earth Kingdom.</p><p>As soon as he is given the opportunity, Fire Lord Zuko isolates the Fire Nation, only maintaining limited-scale diplomatic and trade relations with the other nations.</p><p>Fire Lord Zuko installs a temple with a roof reminiscent to that of a Red Lotus, with a statue that looks suspiciously like the deceased Princess Ursa, and his former fan is replaced with one that has a blazing forest on it, supposedly painted by the Fire Lord himself.</p><p>The Red Lotus wilts away, and the Fire Lords Maternal Grandparents join it soon, and are buried near the Red Lotus Temple.</p><p>When he is nineteen, the Fire Lord announces that he is with child.</p><p>Prince Iroh is called to return to the Fire Nation, to act as regent during the last three months of his pregnancy.</p><p>The Avatar, who has come to take a strange liking to Zuko, for some odd reason (“It’s like we’re related!” He says excitedly), helps.</p>
<hr/><p>After sixteen long hours (Give or take, really. He can’t tell at this point) of excruciating pain, Princess Izumi is born into the world, kicking and screaming right at Agni’s face during the afternoon.</p><p>Fire Lord Zuko smiles and coos at his newborn daughter, paying no attention to anyone else in the room. His daughter will not have to fight for his favour, it will be all hers and he will make it clear as day, but he will still teach her how to play the game.</p><p>”You will learn my love,” he says, stroking her cheek. “And I will be your teacher.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. UPDATE</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Fire Princes Self Serving System is being developed into a full fledged series. This time with a more fleshed out story, world building and longer chapters. From now on, all things related to it will be tagged as TFPSSS-verse and will be posted under the pseudonym of ‘Mriti’.</p><p>I have also fashioned a fan cast for said universe just for fun, and also because of a joke that my friend made. I’ll probably post it if I can somehow, just so I can look at Lee Dongwook.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Multiple times.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>No, seriously. Look him up. He looks so goddamn handsome.</p>
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